Distinct Dialogue & Character Voices
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Webinar hosted by: The Write Now Challenge
Allen James Roughton is the Stage 32 Script Services Coordinator, a screenwriter, reader and development researcher who has consulted on over 100 projects, scripts, books, comics and films and conducted research on life stories, exposés, professions and locations for development at major production companies. Nick Assunto is part of the Stage 32 script services team and a repped screenwriter himself. He was previously a reader for the Austin Film Festival, a writer for the 2017 CBS Diversity Sketch Comedy Showcase, co-host of the Sunday show B.Y.O.T. at UCB, and dabbled in acting, having been featured on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, an eHarmony commercial directed by Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst (for real), and is infamously known as Tony, the annoying party member from the 'Four Friends' Elder Scrolls spots. Full Bio »
Webinar Summary
When your characters each have their own voice, you should be able to tell them apart by their dialogue alone. We challenged you to write a scene removing all character names and descriptions so that each character is distinguishable by their dialogue alone.
What You'll Learn
This month, we're adapted a challenge from Eric Heisserer's (ARRIVAL, THE THING) 150 Screenwriting Challenges - this is a great book to challenge yourself with and grow your craft. For our challenge, writers either:
(a) Wrote a scene with four characters arguing over what to do about a dead body they found.
OR
(b) Edited a scene you've already written that include three-four characters arguing about something.
They had to remove all names and character descriptions. Just using a simple setup like Character #1, etc. and distinguishing each character by their dialogue alone.
This challenge was meant to focus your writing on creating unique characters with individual voices and distinct dialogue. There is a section in nearly every professional coverage where someone will discuss your characters and dialogue to their producer, so take this chance to learn and make sure what they have to say next time is positive!
About Your Instructor
The Write Now Challenge
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